| From the New Orleans Daily Crescent |
| |
| February 6, 1861 |
| |
| Financial and Commercial Department |
| New Orleans Money Market |
| ***** |
| The annual report of the
President of the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad,
made to the Legislature, is before us. We append. The earnings of the
road show a large increase for last year, say 34 pct. over 1859, and
111 pct. over the year 1858. |
| New Orleans, Dec. 1, 1860 |
| To His Excellency, Thos. O. Moore, Governor
of the State of Louisiana |
|
|
| Sir, |
| The following statement of the
affairs of the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad
Company, is respectfully submitted by the President and Directors, in
conformity with an act of the Legislature, approved April 28th, 1853,
which provides that the President and Directors of any railroad
company, in which a State is a stockholder, shall, within one week
after the meeting of the Legislature in each year, report to the same,
the general condition of said Company, the amount of capital expended,
money borrowed, length of road finished and under contract, and a
particular statement of its receipts and expenditures; and another
act, approved March 15, 1856, which directs that the report shall be
made to the Governor of the State, at least ten days previous to the
meeting of the Legislature. |
| The road has been completed
with a single track, together with the necessary side-tracks, depot
buildings, and water stations from New Orleans to Canton, Mississippi
-- a length of two hundred and six miles -- in a substantial and
permanent manner, equal to any road in the United States, with the
exception of a portion between the city of New Orleans and the Pass
Manchac, which portion is now being filled and raised in such a manner
as to prevent any future delays or accidents. |
| On that portion above Canton,
known as the extension, twenty-six miles have been graded at a cost of
$220,000, and an additional section of fourteen miles to the town of
Kosciusko, is under contract, and will be completed during the year
1861; another section, extending south from Aberdeen, Miss., to the
intersection of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad (length nine miles) is
under contract, the graduation of which is nearly completed and ready
for the rails, which can be laid in season to take off the next crop,
should the receipts of the road equal our sanguine expectations. In
addition to the work done on the above nine miles, there has been more
or less work done upon about forty miles of the line through Monroe
county, above and below Aberdeen, at an expense of about $85,500. |
| The amount expended in the
construction of the road from New Orleans to Canton, Miss., including
the right of way, real estate, depot buildings, station houses, iron
rails, wood and water stations and workmanship of all kinds up to date
-- |
| Has been |
|
$5,519,211.81 |
| For locomotive engines, cars, tools,
etc., in the machine shop |
1,044,661.20 |
| For graduation, right of way, and
real estate, etc., north of Canton |
445,600.00 |
| Total cost of road and rolling
stock |
|
$7,038,873.01 |
| The amount of indebtedness for money
borrowed upon first mortgage bond is |
$2,645,000.00 |
| Loans from the State of Mississippi |
|
205,000.00 |
| Amount of bills payable |
|
735,335.73 |
| Total loans and bills payable |
|
$3,585,335.73 |
| The earnings of the road from
freight and passenger trains from 1st December, 1859, to the
30th of November, 1860, as shown by statement II, was |
$1,272,682.87 |
| The amount disbursed for transportation during
the same period was |
$811,517.79 |
|
| From this must be deducted for expenses,
incurred previous to Nov. 30, 1859, and paid during the
current year |
111,853.51 |
|
|
$695.694.28 |
|
| Add for amount outstanding and unpaid on 30th
Nov., 1860 |
20,276.25 |
|
| Actual cost of transportation from Dec., 1859 to
November 30, 1860 |
|
715,970.53 |
| Leaving the net earnings for the year ending
Nov. 30, 1860 |
|
$556,712.34 |
|
| We have on hand, in complete
order, and ready for service: |
| 45 Locomotive Engines |
503 Freight Cars |
| 37 Passenger Cars |
57 Gravel and Hand Cars |
| 9 Baggage and Express Cars |
|
|
| This quantity of rolling stock
is sufficient to transport double the amount of freight and passengers
which passed over the road during the past year. Of the above, eleven
locomotives and eleven first-class passenger cars have never been
coupled to a train, and are now in the depot perfectly new and ready
for use whenever they may be required for the increasing traffic of
the road. |
| The total earnings of the road, from freight,
passengers and mails, for twelve months, ending December 31st,
1857, were |
$277,008.24 |
|
"
" December 31st, 1858
were |
593,093.69 |
|
"
" November 30th, 1859 were |
964,958.66 |
|
"
" November 30th, 1860 were |
1,272,862.87 |
|
| Showing a regular increase of
more than $300,000 each year since 1857, notwithstanding the
interruptions to the traffic from the extraordinary storms, crevases,
and short crops of the two years just passed. |
| We may, therefore, estimate
the gross earnings of the road during the next current year at not
less than $1,600,000, although there is but little doubt that the
earnings will be near one million seven hundred thousand dollars, as
the extension of the Southern road from Jackson east to the Mobile
& Ohio Railroad and the Tennessee & Mississippi road from
Memphis to Granada will be completed by February next, which will add
largely to the receipts of our road. |
| While the receipts of the
road, during the last twelve months have been increased over $300,000,
the expenses have been reduced more than fifty thousand dollars, and
from a careful estimate, based upon the actual expenses during the
last seven months (the term which the present Board of Directors have
had charge of the road) there can be no doubt that the total expenses
for transportation, maintenance and repairs of road, motive power,
repairs of cars, together with all other incidental expenses, for the
twelve months from this date, will be reduced to the sum of $507,000,
namely: |
| For Conducting Transportation, including agents
and clerks, conductors and train hands, stationery and
printing, and incidentals, etc. |
$137,000 |
| For Maintenance of Way, including labor,
subsistence and clothing, tools, lumber for bridges, cross
ties, incidentals, etc. |
163,000 |
| For Motive Power, including repairs to engines,
engineers and firemen, fuel and water, oil and tallow |
157,000 |
| For Maintenance of Cars, including labor,
material, oil, tallow and waste |
50,000 |
| Total as above |
$507,000 |
| If to the above we add iron rails for new turn
outs, lost freights, stock killed, new bridges, say |
93,000 |
| The whole expenditure cannot exceed |
$600,000 |
|
| Which, deducted from the estimated gross
earnings ($1,600,000) will leave one million dollars as the net
revenue for the twelve months. The amount of interest and sinking fund
being $340,000, there will be left $660,000 to meet the bills payable
now outstanding, and other accounts. |
| We have contracted for four
thousand tons of iron rails (a sufficient quantity to lay fifty miles
of single track) deliverable in all the month of January, 1861; of
this, however, sixteen hundred tons have already been received, and
the remainder (now on shipboard) will be delivered within the time
contracted for; the first payment for the iron still to be delivered
will not be due until October, 1861. |
| The special statements
accompany and make a part of this report. |
| All of which is respectfully
submitted, |
| H. J Ranney, President |
|